On the hunt for some living room ideas on a budget? As the name would suggest, we live hard in our living rooms. It’s where we relax, entertain, drink coffee every morning (and wine every night). It’s where we shamelessly eat dinner off a tray and stay up all night bingeing on boxsets.
But if you're designing a new living room and your budget is pinched, where do you start? We'd suggest here: with our affordable living room ideas and tweaks that are small on spend and big on style.
1. REARRANGE THE FURNITURE
(Image credit: Out There Interiors)
Before you buy, re-envision what you already have. Refocusing the layout could allow you to update your living room without splashing out. So, rather than following the same traditional layout in your living room – coffee table in the middle, sofas pushed up against either wall, TV at one end – why not try something more interesting, like pulling your furniture away from the wall; or using a piece of artwork as a focal point (rather than the TV); or even just de-cluttering and clearing out some furniture to make the living room feel larger.
2. SHOP YOUR OWN HOME FOR LIVING ROOM IDEAS ON A BUDGET
(Image credit: Oliver Bonas)
Before you go blowing your tiny budget on new pieces, look around your house and see if you can borrow anything from other rooms. You may find that a piece of furniture lingering in your bedroom would work so much better in your living room or take a look in your loft or garage to see if any neglected pieces could be put to use again.
Top tip: If you come across a great find but it doesn’t quite match your existing living room, painting furniture will bring it in line with your scheme.
3. UPDATE YOUR WALLS WITH ARTWORK
(Image credit: Ian Snow)
Want an alternative to displaying photos and pictures? Fabric wall hangings are a quick and cheap way of brightening up your standard-issue blank wall and of add an on trend bohemian flare. In the case of wall hangings, you might not even need to buy anything new if you have an attractive bed cover lingering in a drawer somewhere.
This cotton throw from Ian Snow comes in lots of different colours and patterns and is big enough to cover a large wall space.
(Image credit: Urban Outfitters)
Macrame is also making a bit of a come back, too (don’t worry, it’s far more subtle than it was in the 70s). You can even DIY it, just take a look at our easy to follow step by step guide to how to create a macrame wall hanging.
4. ADD GREENERY WITH HOUSE PLANTS
(Image credit: Sainsbury’s Home)
Plants are an easy win to add to your design arsenal. They add colour, shape and (literally) life to a space. There are some great places you can pick up inexpensive, high-quality foliage: Ikea, Homebase, and Waitrose all have a great selection and are small budget friendly. Larger house plants can however still be expensive so to create the illusion of your room being filled lots of greenery, arrange groups of small plants at different heights.
Struggling to find plants to suit your space? Check out our guide to displaying indoor plants.
5. BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF PAINT
(Image credit: David Woolley)
One of the easiest living room ideas on a budget is to don your DIY dungarees and get painting. There is loads of good-quality, low priced paint out there, but if you really want to save you could just buy a small pot and paint one wall or alcoves for a pop of colour. Need inspiration? Don't miss our paint ideas for living rooms.
6. PUT UP (THEN TAKE DOWN) REMOVABLE WALLPAPER
(Image credit: Annie Sloan)
For interior commitment phobes or renters, removable wallpaper is a game changer. Now you can get incredible wallpaper, cover your walls in it, remove it a couple of years later and still walk away with your deposit.
Etsy is a great source for peel and stick wallpaper; they have a plethora of different prints and loads of sizes to suit the space you are covering.
7. OR QUICKLY ADD A MURAL
(Image credit: Katie Lee)
A great cheap living room idea is to incorporate a wall mural. This needn't mean spending ages pasting one to your wall or painting one yourself, you will find loads of large scale prints you can just hang up in minutes. Plus wall murals are great if you are decorating a rented home since they aren't as permanent as wallpaper or paint.
For more wall mural ideas, check out our feature, and you can find loads more grey living rooms like this one in our design gallery too.
8. CREATE A GALLERY WALL
(Image credit: Desenio )
A trend that has truly stood the test of time, gallery walls are a great way to cheaply fill a blank wall and give a room much needed personality. Use photos, record covers, prints – you could even frame fabric cut-offs or spare bits of wallpaper.
Desenio have a great service on their website, which helps you plan the layout of your gallery wall and choose prints and frames which work in your space.
Top tip: If you’re renting your property and hammering hundreds of holes into the wall isn’t an option, command hooks are a good solution or go with a picture shelf for minimal wall damage.
9. UPDATE YOUR CUSHIONS
(Image credit: Brent Darby)
Cushions: the most versatile of soft furnishings. Available in so many different sizes, shapes, colours and textures, a few new cushions could be all your living room needs to feel refreshed.
10. LAYER UP RUGS
(Image credit: John Lewis)
Rather than spending money on re-carpeting your living room, copy this budget living room idea and hide the numerous red wine stains with layers of rugs. Rag rugs, jute rugs, Persian rugs, sheepskin rugs – more-is-more seems to be the rule. Mix up textures, colours and patterns to add interest to the space.
To keep the right balance between edgy-bohemian vibe and full on carpet shop, stick to a simple colour palette and use neutral rugs, such as jute, as a base.
11. GIVE TIRED FURNITURE SOME TLC
(Image credit: Nomad Design )
Nothing perks up a sad piece of furniture like new upholstery. Re-covering or reupholstering can completely change the look of old sofas and armchairs and is great cheap living room idea. Reupholstering large pieces of furniture can be pricey, so a really inexpensive solution is to drape throws over sofa cushions, as seen below.
If you are feeling crafty, start small with our guide to re-covering a foot stool.
12. MIX UP THE LIGHTING
(Image credit: Wayfair)
Living room lighting is something that can be updated really quickly and doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Avoid making your room feel like an over-lit operating theatre by going for floor or table lamps at different heights; layering your lighting this way will create cosy pools of light that can quickly change the mood of a room.
13. PAINT THE FLOOR OF YOUR LIVING ROOM
(Image credit: Malcolm Menzies)
Okay so maybe this isn't a five minute job, but it's still a great budget-friendly living room idea. Painting floorboards is an easy weekend project that won't cost you too much and can completely change the look of your space. If you are brave enough we love love love the black floorboards in this living room and they are so on trend at the moment.
For tips an inspiration, head over to our guide to how to paint floorboards.
14. UPDATE A LIVING ROOM WITH HANDY (BUT LOVELY) STORAGE
(Image credit: colin Poole)
Practical storage may not be the most exciting cheap living room idea, but containing your clutter and using your storage to add personality can really transform a space. If you don't already have the perfect living room storage, check out our ideas buuut if you do have some kind of book shelf or open shelving use these to update your living room. Regularly switch out what you keep on them, add art work, photos, plants, books and magazines to create a new focus to your living room.
15. SPLURGE STRATEGICALLY
(Image credit: Brent Darby)
Invest in pieces that are the centre point of your space, pieces that you can build the whole room around. It could be a pricey mustard yellow sofa that you’ve fallen hard for or an amazing piece of artwork. If you love it and it’s going to completely transform a room then, hate to say it, it’s probably worth it.
16. MATCH YOUR WALL COLOUR TO YOUR FURNITURE
(Image credit: sofology)
SUCH an easy trick: matching your wall colour to your most dominant piece of furniture, if not exactly, then in the tone at the very least, creates an expensive look, on a budget. This trick tends to work best with neutral or muted schemes – don't expect bright purple walls and matching furniture to carry off the expensive vibe...
Source: https://www.realhomes.com/design/12-budget-living-room-design-ideas
